I gain ten years' worth of cultivation every day, and even geniuses will only see my doorstep!

Qin Yuan crawled out of the ruins, his right hand gripping a bone blade. His left arm hung limply at his side, like an extra rope. His right leg trembled, and blood covered his legs below the knee. He looked at Cang Xuanzi, and Cang Xuanzi looked back at him.

"If you can withstand three of my moves and survive, you deserve to die by my hand," Cang Xuanzi said.

Qin Yuan planted the bone blade in the ground to support himself. He smiled. "Your junior brother said something similar too."

Cang Xuanzi's face turned even paler. He raised his hands, fingers spread, and source energy condensed at his fingertips, transforming into ten black chains. The chains slithered through the air like snakes, lunging at Qin Yuan from ten directions. Qin Yuan drew his bone blade, severing two chains with a single strike, but the remaining eight bound his limbs, neck, and waist. The chains tightened, and his bones cracked.

Lin Qing'er crawled out of the ruins and slashed at the chains with her sword. The chains didn't break, but her sword did. The blade flew out and stuck in the ground. Hong Yue got up and smashed the chains with her broken spear, but the chains didn't budge.

Cang Xuanzi walked up to Qin Yuan and looked down at him. "The inheritance of the Origin God King is not something an ant like you deserves." He reached out to grab the bone blade in Qin Yuan's hand.

Qin Yuan opened his mouth and bit Cang Xuanzi's finger. Not the fingertip, but the entire finger, from base to tip, in one bite. His teeth pierced the flesh and bit into the bone with a snap. Cang Xuanzi screamed, pulling his hand back; Qin Yuan's teeth marks clung to his finger, and blood flowed.

Qin Yuan spat out the blood in his mouth. "Your blood is red too."

Cang Xuanzi's face turned from blue to purple. He raised his other hand and struck Qin Yuan's crown. Lin Qing'er rushed over and stood in front of Qin Yuan. The blow landed on Lin Qing'er's back; she groaned, collapsed onto Qin Yuan, and coughed up blood, which dripped onto Qin Yuan's face.

Qin Yuan's eyes reddened. The fifteen golden patterns on the bone blade suddenly turned black. The chains snapped. Qin Yuan stood up, picked up Lin Qing'er, and placed her on the ground. Then he turned to face Cang Xuanzi.

Cang Xuanzi took a step back. He didn't know what he was afraid of, but his leg moved back on its own.

Qin Yuan burned 30,000 years of his lifespan. He didn't exchange his lifespan for power; he used it directly as fuel, burning his cultivation from the fifth level of the Void God Emperor realm to the eighth. His hair turned from white to gray, then back to white—not white, but a withered white, like dry straw. His skin cracked, his lips peeled, and his eye sockets sunken. But the black patterns on his bone blade turned gold, not the original gold, but a different kind of gold, deeper and more profound.

He charged at Cang Xuanzi, slashing down with his blade. Cang Xuanzi raised his arm to block, but his protective energy was torn apart like paper. The bone blade severed Cang Xuanzi's left arm; the severed arm flew off and landed on the ground, its fingers still twitching. Cang Xuanzi screamed, slamming his right palm into Qin Yuan's chest. Qin Yuan broke three ribs, but he didn't retreat. He used the bone fragments from his severed arm to block Cang Xuanzi's hand, while the bone blade pierced Cang Xuanzi's abdomen.

Cang Xuanzi looked down at the bone blade embedded in his stomach, then at Qin Yuan. Fear filled his eyes.

Qin Yuan said, "Your junior brother had the same expression when he died."

He pulled out the bone blade, and Cang Xuanzi's intestines spilled out. Cang Xuanzi clutched his stomach and knelt on the ground. Qin Yuan didn't kill him; he turned and picked up Lin Qing'er, saying to Hongyue, "Let's go."

The three fled towards the edge of the Origin Ancestral Realm. Behind them, Cang Xuanzi's screams grew fainter and fainter. He didn't give chase. He couldn't catch up.

The Heavenly Rift Valley is the boundary between the Ancestral Realm and the Chaotic Heavenly Domain. Though called a rift valley, it's actually a gap between the two realms, hundreds of feet wide and bottomless. There's no wind in the valley, but countless tiny spatial rifts float in the air like invisible blades. Qin Yuan carried Lin Qing'er into the rift valley, with Hong Yue following behind. With the first step, a section of Qin Yuan's left arm was severed by a spatial rift, exposing the bone. He didn't stop. With the second step, a gash appeared on Hong Yue's cheek, blood flowing down her neck. She didn't wipe it away. With the third step, a tear appeared in the back of Lin Qing'er's clothes, revealing the skin beneath, with a shallow bloodstain.

The Void Beasts have arrived. Not just one, but hundreds. They surged forth from the depths of the rift, their bodies hairless, covered only in gray skin riddled with cracks from which black liquid oozed. They had no eyes, no noses, only round mouths filled with teeth.

Qin Yuan handed Lin Qing'er to Hong Yue and turned to face the horde of beasts. His left hand was severed, but his right hand gripped the bone blade. The first Void Beast pounced, and the bone blade severed its head. The second charged from the side, and Qin Yuan used his severed arm to hold its mouth shut, the bone blade piercing through its head. The third, the fourth, the fifth. He killed one after another, his body riddled with countless bite wounds. Blood flowed onto the ground, absorbed by the void.

Hongyue carried Lin Qing'er forward, not daring to look back.

As Qin Yuan fought his way to the end, the golden patterns on his bone blade had faded. His lifespan was almost over. He knelt on one knee atop the pile of corpses, panting heavily. Three more void beasts remained in front of him, surrounding him, neither daring to approach nor leaving.

Red Moon called out to him from the end of the ravine, "Qin Yuan! We're here! We're here!"

Qin Yuan stood up. He glanced at the three void beasts, who took a step back. He turned and walked towards the exit of the rift. The three void beasts did not pursue him.

Falling Star Town is located at the southernmost tip of the Chaotic Heaven Domain. The town is small, with only one main street and two rows of houses. The bluestone slabs on the street are worn smooth, showing their age. There aren't many townspeople; most are cultivators, with cultivation levels around the Void God Emperor realm. When they saw the three people covered in blood, they didn't ask any questions but simply made way for them.

Su Yao's tavern was at the end of the main street. The signboard was faded, and the wooden door was ajar. She was wiping the table when the door was pushed open, and she looked up. The moment she saw Qin Yuan, the rag in her hand fell onto the table.

Qin Yuan placed Lin Qing'er on a chair by the door and sat down himself. His eyelids were heavy, and he could barely keep them open.

"Do you have any medicine for wounds?" he asked.

Su Yao didn't answer. She walked over and lifted Lin Qing'er's clothes from the back. The bruise, about the size of a palm, had turned black, with a handprint in the middle. The skin around the handprint was sunken, as if it had been branded with a hot iron.

"Three ribs were broken, piercing her lung. More than a dozen meridians were severed." Su Yao's voice was calm. "She's alive because you've been protecting her with your source energy."

Qin Yuan remained silent.

Su Yao examined Hong Yue again. Hong Yue's ribs were also broken, and she was bleeding internally. Qin Yuan himself was the most seriously injured. His left arm was broken in two, his right leg was fractured, he had multiple internal bleeding, and his lifespan had been excessively burned. He looked like dried tree bark.

Su Yao helped them into the backyard and cleared out three rooms. She set Lin Qing'er's bones, stitched them up, and applied medicine. Lin Qing'er frowned in her unconscious state but did not wake up. Qin Yuan sat in a chair, watching Su Yao busy herself. Her movements were very skilled, unlike those of a tavern owner.